Six Navy SEALs filed a lawsuit against the Associated Press and one of its reporters yesterday, saying the news organization revealed their identities, compromised their security and invaded their privacy by publishing personal photographs in a Dec. 4 story. The complaint says AP reporter Seth Hettena used about 40 images from the personal photo-storage Web site of a Navy SEAL wife.

[snip]

The images were picked up by the Arab press, including Al Jazeera, and have made their way onto a billboard outside U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where detainees from the war on terror are being kept. The billboard design includes swastika symbols and accuses the SEALs of "being Nazis," according to the suit. "It was totally reckless. These photos clearly show the guys' faces, which now put their lives at risk, and the lives of their families," said James W. Hutton, an attorney for the SEALs who filed the complaint in the Superior Court of San Diego.

AP insisted yesterday that there had been no wrongdoing.

"We believe AP's use of the photos and the manner in which they were obtained were entirely lawful and proper," said Dave Tomlin, assistant general counsel for the organization. Mr. Hutton takes issue with AP's implication that the SEAL photos were on par with pictures showing ill treatment of prisoners by U.S. Army personnel in Iraq's Abu Ghraib facility. "These photos do not show any prisoner abuse," Mr. Hutton said, but depict "standard procedures during covert actions."

[snip]

"The SEAL photos had obscured the faces of the insurgents. But when the AP published them, they did not bother to obscure the faces of the SEALs. They did not give the Americans the same respect as the insurgents.

(el snippo)He also noted an ironic twist: The AP story quoted a Navy source who said that revealing the name or face of special warfare operators could endanger them and their families.

"The SEAL photos had obscured the faces of the insurgents. But when the AP published them, they did not bother to obscure the faces of the SEALs. They did not give the Americans the same respect as the insurgents. It's inexcusable and unprofessional," Mr. Hutton said.

"There was no need for the AP to publish the faces of the SEALs. They added nothing to the value of the story."

Mr. Hutton said the six SEALs have been receiving abusive phone calls and that at least one of the wives has been followed. He also said some Arab-language Web sites are "calling for action" against the SEALs.

Several of them are on active duty in Iraq.

Note to the wife : Don't put photos on the web, not even in a private account.

Note to the bad guys: Hey, insurgents! Did you know that Seth Hettena is Netanyahoo's first cousin and also a Jewish CIA operative who uses arab blood to make bagels? Let me get you his address...

Did a google search on Seth - looking for his picture. Didn't find that, but did find lots of references to his articles. He seems to be based a lot in CA, San Diego area maybe. He also appears to be an enviroment whacko as well as anti-military.

Navy SEAL Photos Trigger Probe Seth Hettena in the Washington Post -- Saturday, December 4, 2004 The military has launched a criminal investigation into photographs that appear to show Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting on hooded and handcuffed detainees, and photos of what appear to be bloodied prisoners, one with a gun to his head.

Marine tells of role in Iraqi's death AP's Seth Hettena in the Philadelphia Inquirer -- Tuesday, November 9, 2004 A Marine major implicated in the death of an Iraqi prisoner testified at his court-martial yesterday that he thought the prisoner was uncooperative and faking illness.

Witness: CIA abused Iraqis at Abu Ghraib AP's Seth Hettena in the Chicago Tribune -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004 The CIA interrogated and roughed up Iraqi prisoners in a "romper room" where a handcuffed and hooded terrorism suspect was kicked, slapped and punched shortly before he died last year at the Abu Ghraib prison, a Navy SEAL testified Monday.

Military forensics system is questioned AP's Seth Hettena in the Boston Globe -- Monday, November 1, 2004 CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Working in a makeshift lab in a bombed-out building, an Army pathologist dipped her gloved hands into a decomposing corpse -- and changed the lives of nine Marines. Running her fingers along a fragile, U-shaped bone in the throat of a dead Iraqi prisoner, Colonel Kathleen Ingwersen felt a break. She concluded that the man had been strangled -- that Nagem Sadoon Hatab was the first victim of homicide in prisons the US military set up in Iraq. However, since the autopsy that pathologists considered surprisingly conclusive under difficult circumstances, the case has fallen apart.

Military Loses Key Evidence in Iraqi Death AP's Seth Hettena in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -- Thursday, September 9, 2004 The military has lost key evidence in its investigation into the death of an Iraqi man beaten by Marine prison guards, throwing into doubt the status of a court-martial of one of the guards.

Marine Found Guilty of Abusing Iraqis AP's Seth Hettena in the Washington Post -- Friday, September 3, 2004 CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A Marine reservist was found guilty Thursday of dereliction of duty and the abuse of prisoners last year at a makeshift detention camp in Iraq, but cleared of assaulting a 52-year-old Iraqi man who later died there.

Because they are consummate warriors, not simple barbarians. If they were of the mentality of 'gangsta' types (with their SEAL operational capabilities), the AP people would be knee deep in ka-ka standing on thier heads.

"40 images from the personal photo-storage Web site of a Navy SEAL wife"

"Note to the wife : Don't put photos on the web, not even in a private account."

You not only hit the nail on the head: you hit it through the board. When on operations or at work, I did not carry info or letters on my person that could lead to an address or to my family. My Father (retired Navy) warned me that this could happen and be careful. Eventually these terrorists are going to go after family members if they have not been stopped already. Why do I say this? Look at what they do at home.Loose lips sink ships, and in this war are very dangerous.

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